A7
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2018
Prairie: Sandy plains represent a very distinct challenge
Continued from Page A1
Restoration work that
has occurred or is ongo-
ing at sites across the Clat-
sop Plains — an area of wet-
lands and sand dunes that
stretches from the Columbia
River south to roughly Tilla-
mook Head near Seaside —
will create pockets of poten-
tial habitat.
The bombs planted at
Reed Ranch contain over a
dozen different kinds of plant
species native to coastal
prairies, many of them nec-
tar species important to sil-
verspot butterfl ies and other
pollinators.
The seed was collected
by hand by some of the same
volunteers who also helped
assemble the seed bombs
and plant them in the sand
this month.
“The biggest limiting fac-
tor for us to really move for-
ward in large-scale resto-
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Eric Owen, land steward
for the North Coast Land
Conservancy, plants native
seed at property the
organization has conserved
at Reed Ranch between
Warrenton and Gearhart.
ration work is the absence
of large quantities of native
seed for plants the butter-
fl y is dependent on,” said
Celeste Lebo, a natural
resources specialist with the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife.
To really dig into a site,
project managers need a lot
of seed and plant material to
play with. But it doesn’t help
that there is no established
method of how to success-
fully restore coastal prairie
habitat.
“Even if we could fi nd
something that works, and a
magic combo of all these site
treatments, we really need
a large quantity of seed and
plant materials to follow up,”
said Carla Cole, the natural
resources project manager
at Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park.
While Cole, Lebo and
Reich have been able to fi nd
seed and plants for smaller
restoration sites so far, they
have been unable to build up
a real bank of plants.
Lebo recently applied
for funding to coordinate
a regional effort to secure
high-quality native seeds
and plants to restore coastal
prairie, grasslands, estuar-
ies and other habitat and to
create a coastal native seed
partnership.
Distinct challenge
The funding Lebo applied
for through the Oregon
Watershed
Enhancement
Board would pay for a part-
time coordinator at the Insti-
tute for Applied Ecology,
an organization that helped
establish a similar partner-
ship in the Willamette Val-
ley. Besides overseeing the
seed partnership, the coordi-
nator’s job would also be to
develop a best practices plan
for how to restore coastal
prairie land.
“People have been at this
for over 15 years, maybe two
decades, and it is still not
clear how to restore coastal
prairie habitat,” Lebo said.
“We really don’t have a good
model of success.”
One of the few successes
Lebo, Reich and others can
point to is prairie restoration
work in Nestucca Bay near
Pacifi c City. But it’s not clear
how much of a hand the spe-
cifi cs of the site, or particular
treatments, might have had
in that success.
The sandy Clatsop Plains
represent a very distinct
challenge.
This summer, 545 silver-
spot caterpillars were placed
on Saddle Mountain, the fi rst
time the area has seen these
insects since they disap-
peared decades ago. Surveys
conducted later counted 27
adult silverspot butterfl ies.
When 1,000 caterpil-
lars were released at a site
in Nestucca Bay the year
before, a contractor for the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice could only account for
9 percent of the caterpillars
along his survey route. This
does not mean only 9 per-
cent became butterfl ies, he
cautioned.
Predation is a big prob-
lem when butterfl ies are
introduced to an area, Lebo
noted. That people could see
even 27 silverspot butter-
fl ies at Saddle Mountain is a
success.
Still, Cole, Lebo and
Reich fi nd it helpful to focus
on the overall goal of restor-
ing coastal prairie habitat
rather than to concentrate
only on the very diffi cult
path of recovery for the sil-
verspot butterfl y.
With things like the seed
partnership and a Clatsop
Plains pollinator project in
the works, Lebo is hope-
ful their work will benefi t a
wide variety of species and
Clatsop County’s coastal
prairies as a whole.
Thief: ‘I was addicted. I am very good at hiding it’
Continued from Page A1
Deana Lynn Freauff, 55,
was found guilty in 2016 of
fi rst-degree theft, six counts
of aggravated fi rst-degree
theft and seven counts of
aggravated identity theft
after serving as the compa-
ny’s fi nancial manager for
nearly four years before
abruptly quitting in 2014.
Several of the crimes
took place before the effec-
tive date of state Measure
57, which increased prison
sentences for some drug
and property offenses. But
the original sentence treated
each count as if they took
place after the law went into
effect, leading to the appeals
court decision.
On Thursday, Freauff
returned to Clatsop County
Circuit Court for a new sen-
tencing hearing in front of
Judge Dawn McIntosh. Cit-
ing numerous examples of
case law, Thomas Freedman,
Freauff’s
Portland-based
attorney, asked the judge for
a sentence of between three
and fi ve years, while Dep-
uty District Attorney Beau
Peterson asked that the origi-
nal sentence remain in place.
“Yes, it was an egregious
situation, but it was just
money,” Freedman said. “I
know there’s this talk that
she’s a serial predator and
a horrible person. What we
are really talking about here
is an addiction.”
On these key points,
McIntosh largely disagreed.
“I’ll admit, when I fi rst
saw this case, I thought,
‘Really? That long for steal-
ing money?’” McIntosh
said. “But I took a look at
both sides of this, and it’s not
just about stealing money.”
‘How could
you not know?’
Dan Nelson, the owner of
Diamond Heat ing, spoke at
the often-emotional hearing,
along with Freauff and fi ve
of her family and friends.
When Nelson hired
Freauff, she was on proba-
tion after being convicted in
2009 for embezzling more
than $300,000 from two
title companies in the Port-
land area. Freauff, posing
as Nelson, forged a letter to
her probation offi cer claim-
ing that he knew of her legal
status and wanted to hire her
anyway.
The probation offi cer
never confi rmed the letter’s
author, and the company
relied on references, rather
than background checks, at
the time, Nelson said.
“Do you know what a
laughingstock I was when
people have come up to
me on the street and asked
me, ‘How could you not
know?’” Nelson asked
Freauff . “I don’t want blood.
I won’t get the money back.
I just want to be an example,
even though my pants were
pulled down.”
Freauff started scamming
the company immediately
after her hiring.
During her employment,
Freauff used the compa-
ny’s ATM card to withdraw
cash for clothing, food, her
cable bill, her father’s car
payments and furniture.
She gambled with nearly
$100,000 of the stolen
money at Spirit Mountain
Casino in Grand Ronde and
Palace Casino in La Center,
Washington.
An accountant who was
updating the company’s
fi nancial records discov-
ered her crimes after ask-
ing Freauff for passwords
to the records. Freauff never
shared them and quit days
later.
Diamond
Heating
The
North Coast Chorale
& Deac Guidi
employs 21 people and has
about a $1 million payroll,
Nelson said. On top of the
stolen money , the ordeal
cost the company hundreds
of thousands of dollars more
for things like legal fees and
back taxes owed to the Inter-
nal Revenue Service, nearly
driving the company to
bankruptcy.
“This is a pretty good-
sized business that offers
family-wage jobs, and she
put it on the brink of bank-
ruptcy,” Peterson said.
Nelson said he spent six
months focusing only on
tracing every transaction
Freauff had made during her
employment and will likely
have to work well into his
70s to afford retirement.
“You gave me cancer!”
Nelson yelled at Freauff, a
reference to an earlier state-
ment of her cancer treatment
in prison. “I am fi nancially
dead. I have cancer — fi nan-
cial cancer.”
Freauff said a gambling
addiction led her to steal
from the company.
“I regret what I did. It
was wrong,” Freauff said.
“I was addicted. I am very
good at hiding it.”
Nelson rejected the
explanation.
“Remember the sheep
that was really a wolf?
That’s Deana Freauff. She is
absolutely a predator,” Nel-
son said. “You just don’t
have a gambling problem.
You have a dark side.”
During their character
statements, Freauff’s friends
explained their longtime
perceptions of her: welcom-
ing, outgoing, compassion-
ate, full of integrity, genu-
ine, kind and intelligent.
“I have to say it was quite
a shock,” said Matt Fitzner,
a friend, about learning of
Freauff’s crimes. “I think a
lot of it happened after we
drifted apart. The actions
I heard today are not char-
acteristic of the person I
know.”
Melanie Culp, Freauff’s
sister, said she is a good per-
son who has had to over-
come an addiction.
“I would never say that
this was justifi able, but I
would also say that prison
is meant to be for the pro-
tection of the public at large,
and Deana has been more
than rehabilitated,” Culp
said.
In her statement, Freauff
also apologized to her fam-
ily and friends.
“My family and friends
are everything in the world
to me,” Freauff said. “Yes, I
am a thief. But that’s not all
I am.”
‘A predator’
By the end, though, the
character statements seemed
to result in more harm than
good for Freauff. McIntosh
said she didn’t buy Freauff’s
demeanor in front of loved
ones. The judge added that,
had he not been the victim of
the crime, she could see Nel-
son, who was friends with
Freauff when she worked for
him, in her friends’ shoes.
“I think you have the abil-
ity to act like that, and I think
you did that for much of
your life,” McIntosh said. “It
was proven not only by the
state, but also because of the
defense witnesses called.”
McIntosh pointed to a
shift in Freauff’s demeanor
when Nelson testifi ed —
eye rolls, leaning back in
her chair — versus when the
character witnesses spoke,
when she cried into pieces
of tissue.
“It seems, you know, dia-
bolical,” McIntosh said. “I
think that you are a predator.
I think that if I have you out
long enough, you will do it
again.”
Freauff said she has held
jobs while in prison and par-
ticipated in a number of bet-
terment groups.
“I’m at peace most of the
time,” Freauff said. “Life
will not be easy whether or
not I get out of prison, but I
will have a good life.”
Nelson, meanwhile, said
it was sad that Freauff didn’t
use her talent and intelli-
gence for “great things.” He
also forgave her.
“I’m extremely hurt,
angered and misled, but
I feel a little vindication
that her friends were mis-
led, too,” Nelson said. “At
the end of the day, it is only
money, but it’s about other
people’s money. It’s about
integrity.”
Liberty Presents
&
North Coast Symphonic Band
Winter
“ Festive
Holiday
”
pm
DECEMBER 16 2:00
DOORS OPEN AT 1:15pm
LIBERTY THEATER
1203 COMMERCIAL • ASTORIA
1:30 Prelude by
NCSB Tombone Ensemble
$15 ADMISSION, CHILDREN 18 & UNDER: FREE
Dedicate a
Handmade Heart Ornament
Honor or remember a loved one. Help a Clatsop County neighbor in need.
Columbia Memorial Hospital
2111 Exchange St., Astoria
(503) 325-4321
off
20
Select
www.columbiamemorial.org
%
Signature
Series
For a $ 10 donation, we will place a handmade heart ornament
on a tree in memory or honor of the person you choose.
In Memory
of
In Honor
of
Name on Ornament
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Send Acknowledgement to:
Name and Address
NAME : _______________________________
ADDRESS : _____________________________
NAME : _______________________________
ADDRESS : _____________________________
NAME : _______________________________
ADDRESS : _____________________________
Name: _______________________________________________
Trees are located in
Address: _____________________________________________ Columbia Memorial
City/State/Zip: ________________________________________
Hospital
Mail form and donation to: Hearts for Hospice, 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon 97103
TAX DEDUCTIBLE: Make checks payable to Columbia Memorial Hospice
To learn more or donate on-line, visit www.columbiamemorial.org/services/hospice